Newbie question regarding what dish etc

S

SNOWMAN2

Member
My Satellite Setup
Standard Sky Panasonic Receiver and Humax HDR
My Location
Surrey UK
Before I ask the questions I 'll tell you about what I have now at the moment.

A standard sky Panasonic receiver connected to a standard sky dish which was fitted on the chimney about 15-18 years ago by sky installer,this is now feeding a new Samsung HD LCD TV recently
I began to think what's the point of HD tv if I cant watch HD at the present, and not really keen on subscribing more money to sky just for to receive hd content, so my initial answer was to get a Humax HDR pvr and still keep the sky standard box as well or at least in the short term.

So the setup needs to be based around the two receivers linking them together and still watch Sky and Freesat HD and whatever other channels I'll be able to watch with a new dish etc.


Being a total beginner in what to purchase my questions are after reading a lot of threads throughout this site and others, there are quite a few members that like the Fracarro Penta 85cm dish Aluminium would this be a good choice dish fitted with a quad LNB Inverto Black Ultra, also what advantages or disadvantages there are to a motorised the dish or not and what type and make is generally recommended.

Would both of my present receivers be connected by a DisEqc switch if so what type should I buy, finally would both of my receivers be able to control the dish if motorised.

Apology for a lot of questions and Thanks in advance.

PS. Forgot to mention new dish is going to be sited above gutter level or just below subject to signal it receives.
 
Before I ask the questions I 'll tell you about what I have now at the moment.

A standard sky Panasonic receiver connected to a standard sky dish which was fitted on the chimney about 15-18 years ago by sky installer,this is now feeding a new Samsung HD LCD TV recently
I began to think what's the point of HD tv if I cant watch HD at the present, and not really keen on subscribing more money to sky just for to receive hd content, so my initial answer was to get a Humax HDR pvr and still keep the sky standard box as well or at least in the short term.

So the setup needs to be based around the two receivers linking them together and still watch Sky and Freesat HD and whatever other channels I'll be able to watch with a new dish etc.


Being a total beginner in what to purchase my questions are after reading a lot of threads throughout this site and others, there are quite a few members that like the Fracarro Penta 85cm dish Aluminium would this be a good choice dish fitted with a quad LNB Inverto Black Ultra, also what advantages or disadvantages there are to a motorised the dish or not and what type and make is generally recommended.

Would both of my present receivers be connected by a DisEqc switch if so what type should I buy, finally would both of my receivers be able to control the dish if motorised.

Apology for a lot of questions and Thanks in advance.

PS. Forgot to mention new dish is going to be sited above gutter level or just below subject to signal it receives.
 
Keep your existing Sky minidish and put a quad LNB on it to feed your Sky digibox and perhaps a Freesat HD PVR, or FTA HD PVR, then look at the other dish separately, as a Sky digibox requires permanent connection to the satellite for updates and does not have DiSEqC.
 
Keep your existing Sky minidish and put a quad LNB on it to feed your Sky digibox and perhaps a Freesat HD PVR, or FTA HD PVR, then look at the other dish separately, as a Sky digibox requires permanent connection to the satellite for updates and does not have DiSEqC.
 
rolfw said:
Keep your existing Sky minidish and put a quad LNB on it to feed your Sky digibox and perhaps a Freesat HD PVR, or FTA HD PVR, then look at the other dish separately, as a Sky digibox requires permanent connection to the satellite for updates and does not have DiSEqC.
Click to expand...
Thanks for your quick reply Rolf.
I forgot to mention the old sky dish is not without problems because of its access location on the chimney,when we had snow earlier in the year we had no tv for 4days because of wet snow build up on the LNB and was out of reach to clean off, it also does not receive all the channels I subscribe to with out picture break up ie blocky picture then disappears totally for several minutes.

So as I have already got the Freesat HDR still sitting in the cardboard box is it possible to connect this to a separate dish as describe in my first post and just make do with the old sky box connected to old dish.

One other question does even the latest Sky HD receivers have to be permanently connected to the dish for updates and does it not have DiSEqC.

Thanks in advance.
 
rolfw said:
Keep your existing Sky minidish and put a quad LNB on it to feed your Sky digibox and perhaps a Freesat HD PVR, or FTA HD PVR, then look at the other dish separately, as a Sky digibox requires permanent connection to the satellite for updates and does not have DiSEqC.
Click to expand...
Thanks for your quick reply Rolf.
I forgot to mention the old sky dish is not without problems because of its access location on the chimney,when we had snow earlier in the year we had no tv for 4days because of wet snow build up on the LNB and was out of reach to clean off, it also does not receive all the channels I subscribe to with out picture break up ie blocky picture then disappears totally for several minutes.

So as I have already got the Freesat HDR still sitting in the cardboard box is it possible to connect this to a separate dish as describe in my first post and just make do with the old sky box connected to old dish.

One other question does even the latest Sky HD receivers have to be permanently connected to the dish for updates and does it not have DiSEqC.

Thanks in advance.
 
To answer your last question, yes and no.:)

Regarding the dish, is there a reason it's on the chimney?
 
To answer your last question, yes and no.:)

Regarding the dish, is there a reason it's on the chimney?
 
rolfw said:
To answer your last question, yes and no.:)

Regarding the dish, is there a reason it's on the chimney?
Click to expand...

No there is no reason why its on the chimney apart from the fact that's where the sky installer fitted many years ago without giving me any option as to sighting the dish.

I'm sorry I don't understand your answer yes and no.
 
rolfw said:
To answer your last question, yes and no.:)

Regarding the dish, is there a reason it's on the chimney?
Click to expand...

No there is no reason why its on the chimney apart from the fact that's where the sky installer fitted many years ago without giving me any option as to sighting the dish.

I'm sorry I don't understand your answer yes and no.
 
The Sky HD receivers need to be connected all the time and don't have DiSEqC.:)
 
The Sky HD receivers need to be connected all the time and don't have DiSEqC.:)
 
Whilst strictly correct that the box needs to be On/Standby at all times for updates, there actually isn't any practical reason not to power down if you feel better doing so.

A missed update can be retrieved either in the short term by leaving the box on when you know there is an update in the offing (which means keeping an eye on the forums) or at some later stage by a Forced Download (But that particular stream is not generally available with the latest software until a few weeks after it has been "rolled out" automatically).

There have been cases where failing to keep sufficiently up to date has led to loss of functionality, but generally missing one update for a short while is not a problem
 
Whilst strictly correct that the box needs to be On/Standby at all times for updates, there actually isn't any practical reason not to power down if you feel better doing so.

A missed update can be retrieved either in the short term by leaving the box on when you know there is an update in the offing (which means keeping an eye on the forums) or at some later stage by a Forced Download (But that particular stream is not generally available with the latest software until a few weeks after it has been "rolled out" automatically).

There have been cases where failing to keep sufficiently up to date has led to loss of functionality, but generally missing one update for a short while is not a problem
 
With HD boxes, it can lead to locking up Gordon, had to do a forced update on one a couple of days ago, as it was constantly locking up, so advisable to leave them on standby and connected to a dish pointed at 28.2 East. Possibly not as important with the standard digibox.
 
With HD boxes, it can lead to locking up Gordon, had to do a forced update on one a couple of days ago, as it was constantly locking up, so advisable to leave them on standby and connected to a dish pointed at 28.2 East. Possibly not as important with the standard digibox.
 
Ok, Rolf - all noted :)

Wasn't aware of that particular foible with those boxes.

Aren't they utter cr*p ?

So much for Sky's environmental credentials: At least proper boxes increasingly have true low power standby modes.
 
Ok, Rolf - all noted :)

Wasn't aware of that particular foible with those boxes.

Aren't they utter cr*p ?

So much for Sky's environmental credentials: At least proper boxes increasingly have true low power standby modes.
 
Back
Top